Shark Week 2013 brings new sharks and live talk shows | Human World | EarthSky

Shark Week 2013 brings new sharks and live talk shows | Human World | EarthSky By Shireen Gonzaga in 

HUMAN WORLD on Aug 04, 2013

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Shark Week 2013 begins today

Shark Week!

Shark stories, tweets, a Google hangout, comedy talk shows – and why it’s a bad week for a seal named Snuffy – in Discovery’s 26th annual Shark Week, starting August 4.

The Discovery Channel’s 26th annual Shark Week begins on Sunday August 4, 2013 in the U.S., with almost round-the-clock documentaries about sharks, including 11 hours of new material. Among the highlights will be a provocative documentary about the extinct giant shark megalodon possibly still lurking the oceans, freshwater bull sharks near New Orleans, a revised top ten sharkdown of the most dangerous shark species, and a look at extremely rare deep sea sharks. Discovery is also introducing a new feature to Shark Week, a live talk show hosted by comedian Josh Wolf called Shark After Dark.

Did the Discovery Channel pay me to write this? No. I just like sharks! And so do a lot of other people. Sharks are a pop culture sensation. With body and behavior crafted by millions of years of evolution to emerge as the apex predators of the ocean, sharks are often regarded as quintessential killing machines. Perhaps that’s why people seem to have a visceral reaction to sharks, whether it’s deep fascination, profound awe, or sheer terror. For me, I guess, it’s a bit of all three. For many, sharks capture our imagination like no other creature.

Shark Week! Starts August 4, 2013 on the Discovery Channel.

Estimates for size range of extinct giant shark megalodon (grey and red) with the whale shark (purple), great white shark (green), and a human for scale.